The Daily Progress
Saturday June 29, 2002
By
Sarah Bouchard
Nine students from the University of Virginia are getting
more than the usual paper-shuffling internship experience this summer
- they are developing potential billion-dollar innovations for a Roanoke
idea company.
The students are participating in the Egg Factory's
Innovation Challenge 2002, with seven other interns from around the
country to develop potential "golden eggs." The young
inventors perform essentially the same task as the three-year-old firm's
staff - they develop products and services for Fortune 500 companies.
Since June 2, the students, divided into four groups,
have been dreaming up ideas about how to solve problems assigned by
The Egg Factory. "My group is trying to develop a technology
to meet health needs for people dealing with not getting enough vitamins,"
said Mark Peverill, a rising senior at UVA from Oak Hill. Other
assigned problems include developing a product to increase comfort in
extreme temperatures and finding a way to detect medical problems that
typically occur in old age earlier, students said.
With the help of former and current experts from the
Strategic Defense Initiative (commonly known as Star Wars), NASA and
the Columbia University business department, the groups each will write
and present a comprehensive business plan. The team deemed by
the organization to have the most golden egg will win a cash award.
"We basically get to do all of the early-stage work ourselves,"
said Lane McBride, a rising UVA senior from Hillsville. "As
we do that, The Egg Factory is bringing in speakers for all different
aspects. They do a good job of covering all the bases."
The students also bring in a diverse array of experience.
The four-member groups each contain an engineering student, a liberal
arts student, an industrial design student and a business student.
"We tried to match up students by group dynamics," said Adam
Hofheimer, Manager of Innovation Support services at The Egg Factory.
Hofheimer said the company wanted two men and two women in each group
and to intermingle the schools as much as possible. The seven
interns that do not attend UVA go to North Carolina State University,
Roanoke College and Virginia Tech.
The interns spent the first couple weeks brainstorming
and coming up with ideas, said Leah Spradley, a rising UVA senior from
Atlanta. "We do preliminary market research and intellectual
property research to come up with the final idea," Spradley said.
Next, the students develop a patent application for their technology.
"It is difficult," Spradley said. "There are certain
techniques we learned about."
But the students can't come up with just any old idea.
They have to follow several criteria that differentiate a golden egg
from the average egg. The idea must have the potential to earn
$1 billion in annual revenue within five years of commercial launch
and the potential for commercial development within three years, among
other requirements. The innovation also must be a benefit to society.
With the help of Roanoke College professors, business
people, scientists and technology experts, the interns will investigate
patents and licenses while learning how to finance a company.
"I think what we do here you can use in almost any company,"
said Sam Skaff, a rising UVA senior from Vienna.
But the interns also mix business with pleasure.
From watching the television dating show "Elimidate" to visiting
Kings Dominion, the students agreed that they are having a fabulous
time. "It's a lot of fun," said Jessica Ivey, a rising
UVA senior from Roanoke. "We all get to live together in
the [Roanoke College] dorms."
Last year, of the four innovations, The Egg Factory
is still developing three and a large Fortune 500 company is looking
at the other, Hofheimer said. Some golden eggs from last year
include a "Smart Surface," which make electrical appliances
wireless, "Scent-A-Peel," an air freshener with long-lasting
scent, and "Vit-O-Mine," a customizable vitamin regimen.
